^ PS 

3525 
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Class _ri_iiaj_ 

Book J^7 3lgA- 
Qom^kW. \^V 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIR 



POEMS 



[<] 



POEMS 



By 

RU^^t STEWART MITCHELL 




NEW YORK 

DUFFIELD & CO. 

1921 






Copyright, 1 921, by 
STEWART MITCHELL 



\ 



Printed in U, S. A. 

APR I '^t 1921 
0)CI,A611629 



r 



To 
MRS. DANIEL HENRY HOLMES 



[v] 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Several of these poems are reprinted from "Eight Harvard 
Poets," Laurence J. Gomme, New York, 191 7, where they ap- 
peared in slightly different form. "A Fig Tree," "A Lady," 
"A Character," "Postscript," and "Lorraine," are reprinted by 
courtesy of the editor of "The Dial.'''' 



[viij 



CONTENTS 



Astarte: For D. G. P 
'A Lady . 
Postscript 

A Farewell: For E. E. C 
A Puritan 

Vision of Life : For G. H 
Salutation 
In Memoriam: For D. H. M. 
Dust and Shadow: For E. i\L J 
Carnival 
A Character . 
China 
A Crucifix 

A Theorist: To V. U. 
Sea Side 
After Love 

Inscription : For E. M. S 
Satyricon 
Leopards 

Sea Mist : For S. W. 
Lucretius 
Prelude . 

Confessional: For M. S. M. 
Helen: For G. H. T. 
Mountain Laurel 
From a Garden , , 

[ix 



PAGE 
3 

4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 

lO 

II 

12 

13 
14 
15 

i6 

17 
i8 

19 

20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
29 

32 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Libation 34 

Invocation ........ 36 

Starlight 38 

A Greek 41 

Neith 42 

Autumn ......... 44 

Tfialassa ........ 45 

A Philosopher 47 

April Night 48 

Elegy 49 

Expectation . . . . . . . . 50 

A Tower . . . . . . . . 51 

A Fig Tree 55- 

Easter Dawn ........ 57 

The Phoenix ........ 59 

An Altar 61 

Goldenrod ........ 63 

Ego 64 

At "Madam Butterfly" .,;... 66 

Sea Burial . . 67 

Poppies ......... 68 

Wine 71 

A Hero 72 

Oasis ......... 73 

A Memory 75 

Warriors ........ 78 

Ipswich Dunes ....... 79 

Arabian Nights 81 

Departure 83 

Lorraine ........ 84 

Autumn Evening 85 



[x] 



POEMS 



li] 



ASTARTE 
For D. G. P. 

Poised on the crescent moon, she stands serene, 
Whose eyes from purple into violet pale, 
As ever she lets fall the drifting veil 

Clouding her beauty with its twilight sheen; 

Hers are grey breasts death laid his lips between 
Lest ever any subtle lover quail 
Before her kiss, remembering life, and fail 

To taste the flesh no eyes live, having seen. 

Remorseless to the end of time, she waits 
On tides none other ears than hers divine, 

Knowing all roads lead last unto the gates 
That swing into the silence of her shrine: 

Where crushed beneath her feet, once pitiless fates, 
Like sleeping serpents round her ankles twine. 



3 ] 



A LADY 

She follows men with calm, sagacious eyes, 
Watching them falter, looking on her smile; 
Gazes as never yet were thought so vile, 

Or lust so strange that she could not surmise; 

Out of her contemplation seem to rise 
Visions of vanished life no studied guile 
Of love made other than a weary while, 

For her whom sinister gods had wrought so wise. 

Standing before her face men long for sleep 
Lulled in the arms of hidden luxuries: 

Look as through twilight, feel the cool flesh creep, 
Sensing the touch of sudden mysteries. 

Strip naked unto grey winds, and plunge steep 
Into the shadowed coil of treacherous seas. 



I4 ] 



POSTSCRIPT 

— Considering which, scuttle from dust and heat; 
Yet not to thought, for ghastly shapes lurk there, 
Octopus-like, to snatch you by the hair — 

Better the blinding road and bloody feet. 

Just between truth and falsehood, lies a neat 
Scarce travelled path, where your imperial air 
Might vegetate in vacancy, and dare 

To taste all passions, buy the best, and eat. 

First of all wordly wise men spake Saint Paul: 
Diversities of gifts ? Indeed, there are 

All manner of gifts — by which men rise or fall. 
Though neither good nor evil take them far, 

You, only, should thank God, for not to all 
A star was given — much less so steady a star. 



[ 51 



A FAREWELL 
For E. E. C. 

Nay: by this desolate sea our troubled ways 
Shall separate for ever; swift hath sped 
The hour of youth, and yet to hang the head, 

Lamenting lost things of departed days, 

Were only from that shadow land to raise, 
A wraith, that whispering of the quiet dead, 
Would mimic the strange life of love; instead. 

Let us relent and hail the past with praise. 

Go, then; and should inevitable fate 

Lead us at last into a world, where men 
Strive for the laurel and applause no more. 
Whither the soul takes silence for its mate. 
There might we meet, and, smiling, once again 
Clasp hands and part upon some wind-swept 
shore. 

Cambridge. 

[6i- 



A PURITAN 

Ever toward morning looking, does she stand, 
Where tides of trade and venture tireless beat 
Round the firm sanctuary of her feet, 

Gazing afar with vacant eyes, her bland 

Bronze lips unconscious of the lifted hand 
That beckons men unto her judgment seat, 
Here where the pilgrims of all nations meet, 

Luring their hearts into her promised land. 

She will not learn to love men for their strange 
Unsteady ways — forgets the brave are sprung 

Out of men proud and wonderful to range 

The whole world. Hope like hers has never sung. 

But mutely waits the old, false dawn of change: 
With eyes that see not, lips that lack their tongue. 



[7] 



VISION OF LIFE 
For G. H. T. 

Who loves the world is amorous of its pain, 
Gathers its faded flowers for his own, 
Pale, fragile petals pitiless winds have blown 

Over the earth and back to him again; 

Deep in his heart the desolate refrain 

Of them who reap where other men have sown 
Breaks in like boundless waters, as alone 

He looks on them who harvest the grey plain. 

Yet ever with the night he seems to see 
Along the uplands warrior hosts that ride 
Like gods to battle whither blind fate wills; 
Then, from a silence, hearkens distantly 

Tumultuous trumpets sounding — far and wide 
Waving their scarlet splendour through the hills. 



SALUTATION 

I would that you were here to-night, your eyes, 
Speaking a soul of mingled love and fear — 
Dread such as even gods, they say, hold dear. 

Love wary of each fortune's swift surprise. 

Go with me now, if ever: the way lies 

Through deep, thick darkness where the path drops 

sheer 
Into the night of Hfe, whence we shall hear 

Only confused and troubled voices rise. 

Yours be my body — of desires as deep 
As ever have been whispered of the soul; 

Yours, too, my gods : I would have such as keep 
A ceaseless vigil, nor relax one toll 

Of tribute — nor, as better-loved gods, sleep, 
For that they have appointed each his goal. 

Camp Sheridan, Alabama. 

l9l 



IN MEMORIAM 
D. H. M. 

Out of midsummer moonlight at my bed 

From troubled dreams I thought I saw you rise, 
And fix me with your unforgotten eyes, 

Still wonderful, as when you were not dead. 

And though you only smiled and turned your head 
Against the bitter scorn of my disguise, 
Behind the swift despair of your surmise, 

Pity more terrible than death I read. 

Then as you looked as if to turn away, 
Dawn waited on us from the dusk a spell 
Lest you should whisper of inviolate things; 
Till down the obscure twilight before day, 
I heard upon the tide of your farewell 
A rumour of inevitable wings. 



[lOl 



DUST AND SHADOW 
For E. M. J. 

All scattered souls she gleans unto her sheaf, 
Inviolate death, grave deity of rest. 
Before whose eyes all past deeds seem the best 

That ever might have been, though envious grief 

Light her proud torch and lustrous in the brief 
Still time before the night when fades the west 
Toward where illimitable skies suggest 

Dear memories of beauty past belief. 

Even as one to battle come who stands 
Aloof a spell, beholding friend and foe 

Clashing in conflict till his soul commands 
He too, press on whither the trumpets blow, 

I lift my eyes where over wasted lands, 
The dust and shadow of life drift to and fro. 



[iir 



CARNIVAL 

So much for our romance; where were an end, 
Of sorrow for those banished sons of earth ? 
Tears wait on .laughter with a sullen mirth, 

As all things beautiful on dust attend. 

Sunlight and shadow touch their hearts to blend, 
Into such doubtful dusk that any dearth 
Of darkness dooms the truant from his birth 

To penance against which no hopes defend. 

Sooner or later; wherefore with calm eyes, 

And patient hands, and smiling lips they wait. 

Who do not count themselves in glory wise. 
Nor serve their tribulation with their hate; 

The very stars take counsel in the skies, 
To learn their orbits from the lips of fate. 



[I2t- 



A CHARACTER 

Only reflected sunlight reached that room, 
Flashing from western windows — counterfeit 
Ever the twilight where we two would sit 

And curse the common rout amid the gloom. 

Tall candles watched us, though their scented bloom 
Glowed steadily as if their stolid wit 
Heard what we said, not making much of it, 

Stifling, like patient torches in a tomb. 

Grave Buddha, squatting on a home-made shrine, 
Looked as if never yet were fact so odd, 

But thought could make its purposes divine; 
Seemed to remember others who would nod 

Approval each to each over their wine — 

Like mice between the grey paws of their god. 



[ 15+- 



CHINA 

Well may you smile upon their pomp and power; 

They come and go, these conquerors in their pride; 

Long since have you beheld such, tide on tide, 
Beat round your baffling wisdom; they shall lower 
Only their moment, and you still shall tower 

Over the restless ages, looking wide 

Upon their thousand kingdoms that have died — 
Like Buddha, throned upon his lotus flower. 

Long since yours was the glory to be strong, 
Yet for this final peace of bended knees, 

You have disowned your folly, and made song 
To Beauty, out of Wisdom's mysteries. 

As shall the prouder sons of these who throng 
Upon you, fierce and futile as the seas. 



[I41' 



A CRUCIFIX 

This was the cross of God on which men's eyes 
Dwelt with the love of dead divinity, 
As they who by the desolate orient sea 

In battle made their sainted sacrifice, 

Dreaming their boundless striving should devise 
A symbol whereby men might know that he 
Who wins his way on earth to victory, 

Thus in his consummated sorrow dies. 

All things are sacred to that tender sight; 

Time's ancient altars whence strange incense curled 
Innocent to the unknown gods; the light 

Of love is thine; faith's banner is unfurled. 
Even where the farthest watchmen, through the 
night. 

Call on the cloud-wrapped ramparts of the world. 



[15] 



A THEORIST 

To V. U. 

They swarm about you with strong speech, and guile 
That strenuous courage, only, can despise, 
Bred of the silence of a heart grown wise 

From doubt and patience through the weary while 

Their malice has prevailed. Darkness and trial 
Were bitter folly did their memory rise 
To scorn the question lurking in your eyes, 

Or cloud the sunlight of your sudden smile. 

Knowing from whatsoever all things come 
In that they have their ending, as their birth, 

I marvel that you falter not, as some 
Who wonder yet if any deed be worth 

The toil of tongues inevitably dumb, 
Of eyelids heavy with avenging earth. 



[i6^ 



SEA SIDE 

You will not let me even touch your hair — 
Not so much please your jester and your fool, 
Now that your scorn no longer is the school 

Of uncomplaining prudence and despair? 

Yours is the chastity of autumn air 

Blown like the liquid sunlight, clear and cool. 
Steady as calm eyes resolute to rule 

With the brave deeds that other men shall dare. 

The waters tremble where the grey wind sets 

His blue lips to the body of the sea, 
Cloud over as your face, now it forgets 

Some vague pledge common between such as we- 
Startled to hear my tedious regrets 

That you it was who were the death of me. 



[17 



AFTER LOVE 

Till love like wrath between their spirits fell 
Their feet were swift upon these hills, in haste 
But to have done with life — skirting the waste 

And desolate places where no heart would dwell — 

Lest fate should bid them falter for a spell 
By waters black and bitter to the taste, 
They turned to deserts where the winds effaced 

All that the track of vagrant steps might tell. 

Not always from the chalice they would choose, 
Men drink their last of life, even they who dare 

To smile upon the cup they would refuse; 

Having come thus, stay you with me, and share 

Whatever love may chance to gain or lose, 
Whatever reap of laughter or despair. 



Ii8^ 



INSCRIPTION 

For E. M. S. 

For memory of those days when, side by side, 
We heard the sea winds thunder on the sea, 
Or, stretched on deck beneath the stars, would be 

One with their lonehness, whilst far and wide 

Grey moonlight would invade the violet-skied 
Silence of heaven, even for memory 
That comes not with so fleet a foot — for me 

Remember until life be drowsy-eyed. 

Whenever as with winds shall come the sound 
Of waters wakened at the touch of dawn 

Whenever amidst mountains you have found 
Starlight and solitude to dwell upon, 

Wherever you shall go the wide world round, 
The memory of our lost days will have gone. 



[19 



SATYRICON 

So, too, were sunlight on the startled wings 
Of gulls that stir and suddenly are gone 
Seaward to crowd the scarlet gates of dawn 

With clamour of their plaintive wanderings. 

Light, utter as the surf of sunrise flings 

Over the shoals of stars, this day has drawn 
The veil of time, that Memnon look upon 

Night of the morning unto which he sings. 

Negligent of all dreams my spirit stands 
Forgetting the inveterate feat that sped 

These feet, unwilling, into wasted lands; 
Watching grave eyes of laughter at the dead 

Attend their eager lips with cautious hands — 
Outwitting death with poison in their bread. 



[ 20 



LEOPARDS 

Light-footed leopards, casual and lean, 

Pace tireless, prisoned in the loneliest part 
Of the eternal twilight of my heart 

Where I have stumbled on them — felt their keen 

Quick bodies touch me, suddenly have seen 
Numberless narrow eyes that never dart 
Out of the night except my pulses start 

For dread of what their watchfulness should mean. 

That day — so have I said — when I shall fawn 
Upon their supple strength, when they arise 
To wait me with their welcome of warm breath, 
I shall no more lament — though the cool dawn 
Of beauty never drop upon these eyes — 

Though my lips hunger for the kiss of death. 



iM-r 



SEA MIST 

For S. W. 

They come down suddenly, grey wings that yearn 
To touch the Hving waters of this sea 
Yet hover and circle, dreaming there shall be 

A time when death shall yield them, to discern 

Shadow from sunlight once again^ — to burn 
With the wine of life — its taste the ecstasy 
They knew of old. Far through eternity, 

They drift — and wait against that dear return. 

Theirs is the voice of infinite regret 

That having once seen love in distant lands. 

They let her vanish, vainly would forget, 

Since now their tardy wisdom understands — 

Haunt these cold mists in terror, having met 
Strange gods who smile at supplicating hands. 

Camp Sheridan, Alabama. 

[22] 



LUCRETIUS 

How ever should we turn till passion cease 
To lord its swaggering mastery over the brain; 
Till soul and body are no longer twain, 

But twined together with one life increase. 

Till out of their embrace a proud release 
Spring for the spirit from its own disdain, 
Till pleasure, gathering to her bosom pain, 

Come penitent at last unto thy peace ? 

Far out before and after life extend 
The pleading hands of unfulfilled desire. 

Whose voiceless protest shall not have an end, 
Though the remotest and last star expire; 

Else what grave folly of the gods portend, 
Beyond the stars, those flaming walls of fire? 



[23] 



PRELUDE 

They weave against the stars their silent ways 
Through leafage looped athwart the azure night, 
Passing translucent globes of vaulted light 

From tender hand to hand — their wisdom stays 

The envious touch of fate through halcyon days, 
Gives them to visions that seduce their sight 
With shapes whose passing is a radiant flight, 

Whose beauty is their own unstudied praise. 

Lifting their full-lipped faces to the skies, 

They fix the moon, shake their disheveled hair 

Back from the gaze of fascinated eyes; 

Falter a trice, as if their dreams would share, 

All pain of all delight passions devise, 

Turn from no heart if love but tarry there. 



24] 



CONFESSIONAL 
M. S. M. 

Your love is my sole comrade: all my ways 
Flower into song beneath the thought of you, 
I knotv your touch in all that I would do, 

Even as your image stands before my praise; 

Yet oftentimes a dumb foreboding lays 
Its chill hand on my heart, as if I knew, 
Scorning the very prophecy, how few 

Remain to us of glad and glorious days. 

Though love perpetual as the sunlight seem, 
Let us beware of love; all we adore 

Lies in the shadow of that self-esteem 
Grown desperate of all it suflFered for; 

One day you will not clasp me in your dream, 
Neither shall I remember any more. 



[25-1- 



HELEN 
For G. H. T. 

Again the voices of the hunting horns, 
Blown from the new moon, low upon the hills, 
And the cold splendour of the evening star. 

Beauty, I have been thy votary, hung 
The temple of my life with offerings — 
Ever a vagrant after thy vanishing feet, 

In those fair days and far when youth was mine. 
Even now, left lonely at the end of life, 

1 seem to hear your voice upon the winds. 
Behold you rising from the sunlit sea 

Once more, to make all men your worshippers; 
Yet, goddess, spare them love like mine, lest love 
Fall ever on such sullen days as these! 

To-morrow is as yesterday; to-day 
No nearer than the morning when there stood 
In Leda's palace, asking for this hand. 
Tall Menelaus with his yellow hair; 

[261 



HELEN 

No nearer, now, than the first time these hands 

Dared linger in caress upon the curls 

Of him whose dark eyes laughed their love to mine. 

'Tis only as if one short, restless sleep 

Lay over the wide chasm of the years 

Beyond which are lost faith and ruined Troy. 

The night wind brings, as twenty summers since, 

The silver-breasted swallows from the Nile, 

To quiet Sparta, nestled in her hills, 

Locked inland from the voices of the sea; 

And far across the porticoes I hear 

The ivory shuttle singing in the loom 

Midst maidens' chatter, as in olden days; 

And still men murmur as they pass me by: 

**Lo, look on her, the wonder of the world, 

Helen, that would have been the Trojan queen!" 

I watch them fix their eyes upon my face 

As they would keep it in their memory 

For ever, and the very while they gaze, 

I see the flames of Troy gleam in their eyes. 

I think sometimes I have already passed 

Into the kingdom of untroubled death, 

Where wandering lonely amongst them I knew 

In Hellas, or where Troy looked on the sea, 

[27] 



HELEN 

Behold each shadow, as it passes by, 

Shrink, half involuntarily, and turn, 

To veil its face and vanish in the gloom. 

Whilst out of that dim distance whence my steps 

Are moving and to which they shall return 

After an interval of endless years, 

There comes a voice that hails me from afar: 

"Art thou not Helen, dowered of the gods 

With all that men can covet? Wert thou not 

Created the most beautiful of earth 

And is not beauty wisdom, wisdom power? 

What hast thou done with their almighty gift?" 

And then, ere I would answer, silence falls 

Around me, and the dark divides, and I 

See the blue twilight on the Spartan hills. 



28 



MOUNTAIN LAUREL 

I 

Why should I suddenly remember you, 

Here, whilst I gather laurel in these mountains? 

Were you not lying dead — 

Far-off" in that forgotten land — 

I, of all men, would scarce occur to you, 

Whose passing cost me 

Rather a dread of fate, than sense of pain. 

The thought is folly: dead men would remember 

Only with laughter. 

Only with laughter, light as ever the winds. 



II 

Insistently memory returns: 

Starlight, grey plains, brown cities of tents, 

And our chatter of life. 

How I mocked the stern vision of duty 

Spreading its giant wings 

l29[ 



MOUNTAIN LAUREL 

To shadow our souls : 

I told you the feet of men, 

Following after fate, are the sport of the gods- 

Now you are dead, 

And I live, and I gather me laurel! 



Ill 

Of old this was given to beauty, 

To heroes, to dreamers of dreams — 

Now it is nothing but laurel, 

I crowd it into my arms, 

I, who loved life, and still love; 

Forgive me: 

Only short of desire is it bitter to die. 



IV 

Look with me westward; over this highway came 

Saints, warriors, fathers of nations. 

Straining credulous eyes 

Into their promised land. 

Look with me westward; laugh with me at the Babel, 

[30] 



MOUNTAIN LAUREL 

Those witless hands have created; 

Not thus shall ye ever attain, 

O dust of the dust, 

Ye who scourge gods. 

Who take counsel with wandering stars. 



Thus have I suddenly remembered you, 
Knee-deep in laurel fields amid these mountains, 
Where winds blow westward from the lips of dawn- 
Fearful, to feel your eyelids open on me. 



I31I 



FROM A GARDEN 

Now even is the drowsy time of cities: 
Smoke drifting out under the stars; 
Streets restless, but silent. 

Here, from the cloister of this garden, 

Deep in the purple well of night 

Walled with the elms like shadows of vast fountains 

Bursting against the sky, 

I listen down the wind 

For the faint voice of summer. 

With silence comes the memory of fate, 
And dread, with solitude, 
Ever to men who dwell 
In cities of men. 

This night, I know, the moon is on those mountains 

Where I stood, long ago, 

With nothing but the waking song of wind — 



[32 



FROM A GARDEN 

With cities strewn 

Like spider-webs of stars along the plain. 

Here, in the dusk, 

A shadow more than night is on my heart I 



33 I 



LIBATION 

I 

Unto the gods I have poured out the lees: 

Drunk to myself the draughts of living wine; 
Thirsting as one that comes from desolate seas 
Restless and scarred with foam, 
Tasting in stinging winds, bitter with brine. 
Hunger for home. 



II 

Light have I seen — and light has left me blind; 

Angels of sudden strength have vanquished me; 
Hope was my altar until laughter twined 
Slowly around my heart, 
Fingers I strangely knew would never be 
Twisted apart. 



[344- 



LIBATION 



III 



Over the waters of their deep embrace, 

Mountains have cast blue shafts of shadow, now 
TwiHght and summer falter face to face; 
Knowing what dreams would dare, 
Scornful of undiscovered days, I vow 
Wine to despair. 



35 1 



INVOCATION 

I 

Swift, beautiful god of all beauty that gave 

Love unto life, for a fire. 
Lithe-limbed leader of them that are brave 

In desire. 
With eyes of the lightning, with jubilant, thunderous 
lyre; 



II 

Dread, merciless god to whom pity were fear. 

Lover of laughter and light. 
Giant-winged deity, soaring up sheer 

Out of night. 
From tumult of chaos that swells with the surge of 
your flight; 



[36I 



INVOCATION 



III 



Proud, fatal-eyed foeman whose arrows disdain 

All but the serpents that keep 
Strong-walled guard at the altars of pain, 

In the deep 
Impassable forests of twilight, and ruin, and sleep. 



IV 

Warm blood of our sacrifice smokes at your knees, 

Chaliced in foam at your choice; 
Calm-browed god, from all lands, from all seas, 

At your voice. 
We tremble to wait you, till touched of your wings, 
we rejoice. 



[37I 



STARLIGHT 

I 

Strange that the eager heart should burn 
So brief a space with doubtful fire. 

Till, flaring suddenly, it turn 
To dust, devoid of all desire; 

Out of a world conceived of flame, 

Drift back toward darkness whence it came. 



II 

Roaming as men will, to and fro 
Over the earth, our spirits seek 

The very fruits and flowers that blow 
With beauty of the dust, and speak 

Veiled words of warning that impart 

Their hint of penance for the heart. 

[38] 



STARLIGHT 



III 



Ever to some our faces seem 

Fleeter than shapes of shadows are; 

Lost in the subtleties of dream, 
Wanderers on a dying star, 

Threading its labyrinths, to find 

Escape for the despairing mind. 



IV 

Voiceless, aloof they dwell alone, 
Brooding upon their vision, stand 

Like proud, impassive gods of stone 

Careless which stars may fade, which fanned 

To splendour in the trackless skies, 

Gleam on the granite of their eyes. 



39 



STARLIGHT 



Jubilant, though all thought in vain 
Sound in the void of echoing deeps, 

Some walk with passions that disdain 
Whatever fate the future keeps 

Hidden beyond to lure them far, 

Like homeless winds, from star to star. 



VI 

Their feet are swift and shod with light; 

Of vagrant flowers each twists his crown; 
Their eyes are song — before their sight 

The mountains tremble and bow down; 
Till death abandon his abyss 
And seal their triumph with a kiss. 



I 40 



A GREEK 

Cunningly chiseled 

Into the intricate beauty of exquisite thought; 

Skin polished smooth as if to tempt the touch, 

Sinews suspended — 

Caught in the careless grace of the pride of a god; 

Lithe neck and sentient lips, and close-cropped curls. 

Huge, smoky windows, 
Shafts of hesitant sunlight, 
Cautious footsteps. 

Blank marble eyes 
Wide with wonder. 
Seeing these sons of God. 



[41] 



NEITH 

Somehow the spirit of that day — 

Rain-clouded streets and brooding air — 
Determined me to live and dare, 

Living, to laugh the world away. 

As in a crystal dreamers see. 

Out of unwinding mists, arise 

The splendours of some paradise 
Woven of gold and ivory; 

Deep in the globe of thought I saw 

Dawn from the tempestuous dust, that form 
Toward which the endless ages storm 

Uproarious — to break with awe. 

Of all things ignorant, yet wise. 
Sitting enthroned at life's last goal, 
Dividing body from the soul. 

Looking at each with flameless eyes. 

[42^ 



NEITH 

Immutable, unknown, unsung, 
Through triumph and delight unearned, 
Through sorrow undeserved, I learned 
Salvation from thy wordless tongue. 

Then, flying the embracing gloom 
Of burnt-out days and parched desire 
I built my soul an altar fire 

Of laughter in the face of doom. 



[43] 



AUTUMN 

Hoarse, cynic voices through the woods, 
A ghtter of black wings. 
Webs of grey mist winding about the hills, 
And all the world aflame. 

Wild as this redolent splendour 

Grows my desire; 

Famished and faint at the feast of life, 

I yet would have all in my dreams, 

Power, and wisdom, and beauty 

Gathered into these arms — 

And now another autumn is upon me. 

Unto the last shall endure 

Pride to break free, 

To be strong; 

Unto the last of all light, 

These sallow skies are ablaze — 

Life, too, is encircled with fire. 

[44] 



THALASSA 

I 

They have turned to the lure of the sea again 

With the salt wind each in his face; 
They have come from the way of the mountains, 
like men 
Whose power would go 
Unto waters to know 
Of the touch of the sea that is grace. 



II 

They have come to the sea from the strength of the 
hills 
From the lair of the winds, where the strong 
Unchangeable silence of starlight instils 
Desire in the heart 

For the uttermost part ^ 

Of the sea, that is ancient of song. 



[45 



THALASSA 



III 



Their dreams are of visions where mountains are one 

With the way of the sea they shall keep; 
Their thoughts, like the waters, would follow the sun 
To the arms of the sea, 
And yet ever would be 
In the arms of the hills, in their sleep. 



IV 

Of those who go down from the hills to the sea 

With the path of the winds for their feet, 
The last long home of the heart of me, 
Were a land that lies 
In the lap of the skies, 
Where the sea and the mountains meet. 



[46] 



A PHILOSOPHER 

Twilight, his hunting ground of thought, 
Found him with candles lighted, 
Drawn blinds, and blazing fire. 

Only in the grey tumult of cities 
He doubted the purpose of man: 
Covetous lips and lewd eyes, 
Were these the hunger of God ? 

With nightfall he laughed at his fear 
And walked with the saints — 
Once he was tucked in bed; 

Yet wakened, sometimes, 
To the noise of winds. 



(47+- 



APRIL NIGHT 

Because my face has been a mask — 
My tongue a laggard where alarms 

Of life are loudest, would I ask 
Deep sanctuary of your arms. 

Because of them who scorn to hear 
Because of eyes that could not see, 

I turn to you who are most dear 
Unto the hidden heart of me. 

This trinket cross that cools my throat, 
I kiss, lest futile things of speech. 

Unwary deed, song out of note, 

Mock at the stars I would not reach. 

I trust your quiet love shall send 
To gaudy life and death such peace 

As waits for worlds to make an end. 
As tells the upstart suns to cease. 

[48] 



ELEGY 

How else than thus with song 

Should men take leave of you — 

How else than to be glad that you are dead — 

No longer shall pursue 

Their panic-stricken throng 

With locks of lightning round your gorgon head ? 

Tempest grey clouds would know your dauntless 

tread 
Down any fearful sky. 

Pressing my heart to the marble of your own, 

I feel it turn to stone 

With dread lest we should meet when I shall die. 



l49] 



EXPECTATION 

Half-opened eyelids, 

Patches of blue sunlight in the hills, 

Big, lazy, braggart clouds. 

Portentous asters, 

Crackle of the darting wings, 

Of glittering dragon flies. 

The drone of summer — 
Windless, naked seas. 

Life cast into the scales against your smile. 



[50I 



A TOWER 



I heard her sing at eventide 

Sing when the stormy evening shed 
An amber twilight far and wide, 
Sing though her lover late had died, 

Sing, in the castle with the dead. 



II 

Hers was a purple mist of walls 

And towers that loomed above the plain; 
Nor torchlit mirth of banquet halls, 
Nor woodlands loud with hunting calls, 

Tempted this lady of disdain. 



51 



A TOWER 



III 



Ever with nightfall would she wait, 
Watching the winding royal road, 
Till some fair warrior, riding late. 
Sounded his horn beneath her gate. 
Praying the boon of night's abode. 

IV 

Wonderful was her way with sleep; 

They who have sought her castled crest, 
Lie in a slumber even as deep 
As theirs who never stir, but keep, 

Mindless of men, their peace with rest. 



Rumour had given her eyes a name, 
Woven of the wonder of their guile; 

Her lips were ribbons of red flame; 

Out of her voiceless laughter came 
Death to the living in a smile. 



52 



A TOWER 



VI 



How should a lady wed with song, 

Twisting pale roses in her hair? 
Deep though her dungeon be, and strong, 
Light though her footstep, life is long 

Even to beauty, everywhere. 

VII 

Slowly the story of her face, 

Living on lips that never met 
Hers in their hfe and death embrace, 
Made of her lair a pilgrim place, 
Closed to the world men would forget. 

VIII 

Twain are the gods whose love is greed 

To gather life with ruthless hands : 
Christ, with the cross where each shall bleed. 
Lust, with her flaming eyes, to lead 

All who but look, through doubtful lands. 



[53 



A TOWER 



IX 



Singing she sits till eventide 

Swallow the road where knights go by. 
Waving a crimson scarf, the pride 
Of him who late lay at her side — 

Waving it wide against the sky. 



[54I 



A FIG TREE 

I 

Murmurous, at evening, over the yellow-hilled 

Lone land they came, 

Crowding about his heels like timid sheep, 

Whispering his name. 

Peering at one another, pondering what they heard 

Resolute, each, to keep 

His every utterance as the chosen word. 

Till, like a group of vagrant ghosts, they filled 

The broad slope where he paused, full in the flame 

Of the scarlet sunset, stood and never stirred, 

Brooding — with feverish eyes. 



II 



Then suddenly, from somewhere in the crowd, 

They heard him cry aloud: 

"Shame to thy faith, fruitless, unworthy tree, 

That canst not, even for me. 

The Son of God, hungry, with weary feet, 

Give anything to eat. 

[55] 



A FIG TREE 

For that I came and that thou didst not see, 
Henceforth for ever fruitless shalt thou be!** 
They watched him, speaking, point as at a vile 
Unholy thing — some thought they saw him smile. 



Ill 

Light-lipped is laughter: in a far-off age, 

One turning his dim page, 

Hungry in body and spirit for a text. 

Paused, half perplexed; 

Then rose, and took upon him to confute — 

For this world, and the next — 

All them whose faith had yielded God no fruit. 



[56] 



EASTER DAWN 

I 

Now is your altar desolate: 

Of the vain feet that throng your shrine 
Only the echoing footfalls wait 

To keep companionship with mine. 



II 



How should they ever hold you dear 
Till life shall be as love may please; 

And part the incense of their fear 
Clouding the pity of your knees ? 

Ill 

Wayward your lips are still, as when 
You counted them least frugal of 

The tenderness you taught to men, 
Ever the eldest in your love. 

[57] 



EASTER DAWN 



IV 



Lured of your bleeding hands and feet 
Out of the dead I would arise; 

Gird on the flesh again, to greet 
The mist of acquiescent eyes. 



V 

Sound on the trumpets : the full moon 
Of ancient festival is come; 

The son of God is dead, and soon 
Shall sanctify his martyrdom. 



58 



THE PHOENIX 

They said the Phoenix would arise, 
Out of the embers of its nest; 

Under the welcome of their skies, 
Find solace and abiding rest. 

Some listened for the sound of wings, 
But soon as ever pinion stirred, 

It seemed the most confounding things 
Had been expected of the bird. 

Till shrewd opinion wondered whether, 
Considering the skeptic owls. 

It were not well to piece together 
Some gentle paragon of fowls. 

Despair fell to, and bit by bit. 

From carcasses that failed to please. 

Devised a creature that could sit 
Most steadily in sheltered trees. 

[59I 



THE PHOENIX 

And though it never stirs or sings, 
Only the owls would wonder why 

This silent Phoenix bred to wings 

Should scorn the sunlight and the sky. 



[60] 



AN ALTAR 



The past, the future are as one to you: 

All we would do 

With worship, all amend with prayer or praise, 

Change not your ways; 

Smiling on who beseech you, who adore 

Your name no more, 

You breathe, with equal breath, 

On life and death. 

II 

They who have known you best have thought your 

face 

Light's dwelling place; 

Have turned aside from hope that they should live 

For love less fugitive, 

Till your own dark and unrelenting eyes 

Count them more wise. 

Than such as meekly wait 

The voice of fate. 

[6i] 



AN ALTAR 



III 



Let the feet falter or the Hps demand 

Help of your hand, 

Life, hesitant between divided ways. 

Spends sunless days 

Deliberate of silence, till at last 

The choice slip past 

For ever, and there remain, 

Pleasure nor pain. 



[62I 



GOLDENROD 

I 

On the crest of this yellow surf, 

Like blue smoke in the winds, 

From swift night and the nearness of stars. 

On wide, scarlet wings. 

Has summer gone seaward. 

II 

Out of deep streets of cool sunlight, 
From closed doors and glittering windows, 
Passing with muffled voices and snatches of song, 
From the langour of cities, 
Into the arms of the morning, 
Has summer departed. 

Ill 

Through the darkness of sky-lighted stairways. 
With warm murmurs of hidden laughter, 
They follow you now, Aphrodite. 

[63] 



EGO 

Ever with evening gather the dead around me — 

Quietly, with deep eyes — 

Watching my mute surprise, 

Gazing as if their secrets would astound me, 

Should they but set their grey Hps to mine ears — 

Yet cautious, lest strange fears 

Follow their feet with noiseless tread. 

As out of the shadows of forgotten years 

They come to me — these unreproachful dead — 

Come, calm with pride, seeing the future flower 

Where once, in vanished days, 

They, too, drank deep for joy of love and power, 

Ere they betook them to these darkened ways. 

Yet they do never take my hand 

Speaking to me, or touch my blinded sight — 

I do but idly stand 

On this last crag of land, 

Watching the sea and sky turn gold 

[64] 



EGO 

When all the east, to-night, 

Is one wide echo of light, 

As if new morning rose upon the old. 

Swift as men pass, their feet are swifter yet: 

What though we think they sleep, 

They never rest, but keep 

The highway of the world, where they are met 

In crowded ways we think the dead forget ! 

I looked once, long ago, on light like this, 

And ever after, turned 

Unto the East, and yearned 

To know the mad enchantment of its kiss. 

To find my home in that abiding bliss. 

Here ever are we lost, ye pale immortals. 

With flaming wings, 

Out of contending light and darkness, spnngs 

The tempest on the sea, 

Whither the clouds fling back their threatening 

portals, 
Throw their arms wide, as they would welcome me! 

Gloucester, 191 7. 

[6SJ 



AT *'MADAM BUTTERFLY" 

Come, gather me into your arms: 
Tears strain at my heart 
As the moon at the tides of the sea; 
Come, gather me into your arms, 
And to peace. 

Look: they who would love should be proud: 

Should despise, nor remember, remorse or despair; 

Go out unto sorrow with a song. 

And follow the winds 

Into the heart of the sun; 

Like music their foot-falls. 

Like laughter the pulse of their hearts. 

Taking less of such love, men shall die. 
But we who are fugitive 
Over the world from all passion but peace, 
Still hunger for rest in your arms. 



[66] 



SEA BURIAL 

Close over him, faithful of death to keep 

This last poor vigil where he lies alone; 

Close over him. 

When life is hope, and gods are gone to sleep, 

Devotion unto worship shall atone; 

Now that his eyes are cold and dim, 

Close over him! 

Who else should ask for him as we rejoice 

And crowd the decks where the exultant land 

Smells sweet and near. 

Lost in our laughter were one feeble voice; 

For him the deathless sea holds out her hand; 

For him to whom no thing is dear. 

Smells sweet and near. 



(>1\ 



POPPIES 

I 

Footsteps soft as fall the rose's 

Petals on a dewy lawn, 
Shaken when the wind uncloses 

Golden gateways for the dawn. 

Laughter light as is the swallows' 
Chatter in the evening sky, 

Wafted upward from the hollows 
Where the limpid waters lie. 

Weeping faint as is the willow's 
By the margin of the lake. 

Trembling into tiny billows 

That the silent teardrops make. 

Phantoms fitful and uncertain 
As the pearly autumn rain 

Sweeping on in cloudy curtain 
Down the wide way of the plain. 

[68] 



POPPIES 



II 



Oh, unhappy now to waken 

When the dream had scarce begun! 
Out of gentle twihght taken 

Into realms of burning sun. 

Oh, unhappy now to find me 

Lost 'neath heavens hot with noon; 

All that fairyland behind me: 
Poppy fields and rising moon! 

Drawbridge and portcullis screeching 
Bugles braying soon and late — 

Who are they that come beseeching, 
Calling at my castle gate ? 

Drive them hence, for they encumber 
Days and nights with waking pain 

Tell them that I lie in slumber 
Under poppies wet with rain. 



[69] 



POPPIES 

Who art thou that kneelest weeping 

By the border of my bed ? 
Cease thou, for I was but sleeping — 

Dreaming, only, and not dead. 

Ill 

Phantoms flitting and uncertain 
Sweeping round the endless plain; 

Autumn twilight's dusky curtain. 
Drowsy poppies, drenched with rain. 



[70] 



WINE 

Idly as gleaming bubbles rise 

Like globes of sunlight in this glass, 
As idly even do men pass, 

A light of wonder in their eyes. 

Though beauty lure them, love be strong. 
Though from lost lands they turn their feet. 
They come and go, with hearts that beat 

Respondent to the surge of song. 

Never is life or death too soon; 
Never too late; they ebb and flow 
As sleepless tides that yearn to know 

The amorous mastery of the moon. 



71+- 



A HERO 

I had put by 

Your jewelled memory, 
Thinking: though he should die, 

Sorrow would be 

Like mirth, for me. 

Now, one by one, 

I count our days apart. 

Finger your cold, fine-spun, 
Intricate art, 
Here at my heart. 

Let love lay waste 

From bitter sky to sky, 

Else with autumnal haste. 
Even as I, 
Wither and die. 



[72 



OASIS 

Come close his eyes and cross his hands 
Like to a saint's above his breast. 

So let him smile: he understands 
The bitterness of life's last jest; 

That one a stranger to all lands 
So quietly should deign to rest. 

Over the desert shall they go, 

Over the desert and alight 
Where golden tents reflect the glow 

Of evening in the depth of night. 

If he had smiled as one who said, 
Farewell for ever unto men. 

We had not loitered at his bed 
Avoiding other eyes, as then; 

We had not hoped that, being dead, 
His like should never live again. 



[73I 



OASIS 

Over the desert have they gone 

Over the desert into night; 
They tarry till the kiss of dawn 

Shall lure them forward in their flight. 



[74] 



A MEMORY 

Strange that on warp and woof of dreams 
Fancy should weave the web of truth, 

And yet this airy figment seems 
Part of that half-forgotten youth, 

Stolen from days I thought were sped 

Out of the world — beyond the dead. 

Smiled she not so when down the edge 

Of evening we walked alone, 
Hunting her flowers from hedge to hedge 

That she might wear them as her own— 
Or do I hold a hopeless tryst, 
Here with a shadow shaped from mist? 

Even as will crumpled rose leaves pent 
By fingers we can never know. 

Rouse with the richness of their scent 
Thoughts of a summer long ago: 

All the expanse of land and sea 

Speaks in a thousand tongues to me. 

[75] 



A MEMORY 

Over this coast of cliffs would form — 
Sprung from the ocean's frosty breath — 

The blue-grey ramparts of the storm, 
Flashing with signal-fires of death; 

Whilst with a murmur, far and wide 

Swept in the low wind with the tide. 

Often, at last, when hearts were dumb 
With fear of parting, would we wend 

Our way through meadow lanes that come 
From nowhere and in nothing end, 

Kissing until our hearts could please 

To flout the rumour-haunted trees. 

Till innocent as any day, 

One casual to other men, 
Marked for her feet a separate way, 

Whither love turns not back again: 
Lured of oblivious twilight, spun 
Of meshes of the wind and sun. 



I 76] 



A MEMORY 

But is there any heart can keep 
Its vigil with the voiceless dead ? 

What if the spirit, waked from sleep. 
Never recall the words it said ? 

Dwell in forgetfulness, or be 

Lost, in a last eternity? 



[77] 



WARRIORS 

Here, for the marvel of the crowd, 
They put you as if death were proud 
Of honour, and would cry aloud 

All that the vanished flesh has done. 
Yet, facing some of us, you seem 
To look on men as from a dream. 
Careless of whether they should deem 

All that you died for, lost or won. 

Pride such as yours would scorn acclaim 
Fawning your praise to gaudy fame. 
Telling the story it were shame 

To look on you, and not surmise. 
Would you from death, I wonder, dare 
Once more to venture — even care ? 
You look — and fate lets fall her hair 

Over the answer in your eyes. 



78] 



IPSWICH DUNES 

I 

Would I might tell you, "Comrade, fare you well 
Into the darkness whither you have gone"; 

Bid you Godspeed, certain such spirits dwell 
In lands where light were like eternal dawn. 

Over these dunes with the last breath of day 
Loiters the twilight as a lingering friend. 
Lets fall his hand to turn away from me — 

Touches these twisted strands of green and grey 
To lonesome splendour, such as seems to lend 
A glory to this land at summer's end. 
An anguish to the silence of the sea. 

II 

If ever we could love them who are sped. 

Out of the world with swift and trackless feet, 

I should have known your England from my bed, 
In fields of poppies sown through deep, green 
wheat; 

[79] 



IPSWICH DUNES 

Should scarce have lived those days as one who made» 
A pilgrimage toward some unwonted shrine, 
And all unknowing passed it by the way, 

Forgetful on those hills with swallows strayed, 
Through evening delicate as amber wine, 
Where once you walked, or ever breath were mine. 
Whither I came, and you long lost from day. 



Ill 

You who have gone a troubled way with song, 

Scorn who would honour you and who forget. 
Their foolish tears spare you no pang of wrong: 

Their praise has never lightened sorrow yet. 
Stretched on these dunes — white sand, sweet-smelling 
bay, 
I think I taste the draught of your disdain — 
Only what you have told of Beauty, we. 
Who love you best remember — turn away 
From idle fancy and your age-old vain 
Unprofitable comradeship with pain. 
On wings of light, wings that desire the sea. 

[80] 



ARABIAN NIGHTS 

As twilight with a whisper touched the sea, 
Trailing the waters with her veil of grey, 
Wave-worn and weary of the ocean, we 
Saw land against the very heart of day; 
Half-hidden in the afterglow, it lay 
On the horizon like a lazy cloud 
Its coasts encompassed with long lines of spray; 
We spread the sails until the ship had ploughed 
Unto the purple waters where the surf sang loud. 

Between the cliffs by the faint stars we found 

A gate of thunder — boldly sailing in 

Watched the dark mountains slowly closing round, 

Hearing hoarse echoes of the ocean's din 

Melt into spirit voices, fleet and thin; 

When, even as we cast our anchor nigh 

Unto the hills where only night had been, 

A city of gold rose suddenly on high 

Like to the yellow light of morning in the sky. 

181] 



ARABIAN NIGHTS 

As if a god should take the skies for loom 
Weaving with warp and woof of living fire. 
So dawned our vision on those hills of gloom, 
Breathing a gale of music hke desire: 
Grave, deep-toned trumpets, a triumphant lyre 
Surging in answer to the songs of men. 
We grasped our oars — but as the stars expire 
To the kiss of day that splendour paled, and when 
Last we looked back, those mountains slumbered 
with night again. 



82] 



DEPARTURE 

Bring me, this evening, crimson wine 
Such, as in twilight, seems to keep 

Secrets of death in serpentine 
Sinuous sleep. 

Here will I drink my toast to-night, 
Over this voiceless, storm-swept sea. 

Bask in my pleasure, ere delight 
Vanish from me. 

Till the sea swallow earth, at last, 
These lips of memory shall make 

A whispering gallery of the past. 
Love, for your sake. 



[83] 



LORRAINE 

Westward lies home; my heart goes out to the west, 
Lured to the memory of other skies, 
Longs for the haven where its wings shall rest 
Over against the slumber of the west, 
Over against the night, with quiet eyes. 

Eastward and westward through these hills have gone 
Conquerors proudly since the world was young; 
Faces that blanched and faltered in the dawn, 
Only a memory, once they were gone. 
Only a memory — and songs unsung. 

They who have known this fatal land, and died: 
Felt the throat thicken and the tired heart cease. 
Dreaming that death would leave them thus, wide- 
eyed, 
Touched with the vanity of them who died 
That Christ should find their martyrdom his 
peace. 

Villa au Val, France 
October, 1918. 

[84^- 



AUTUMN EVENING 

Blown like the dust across my way, 
There came and went as shadows do, 

A phantom on the dusk of day, 

A mask with laughter looking through. 

Vision of memorable eyes, 

Haunted by your regretful feet, 

I pass you still, as ever skies 

Of sundown flood this silent street. 

Teach me the chaste, unchosen art, 
Scorning the hope of bended knees, 

To brush, like midnight, from my heart. 
The terror of untravelled seas. 

Then were the breath of God a flame. 
To light the life his love would give, 
Not leave the lips that lisp his name. 
Cold, and forever fugitive. 

[85] 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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